Out of Africa and Into Asia:
Archeological Evidence of Early Homo sapiens in Asia

Out of Africa vs. Multiregionalism

According to Klein (1999), the Out of Africa
theory states that the
ancestors of modern Homo
sapiens evolved in Africa, and then spread throughout the Old World.
The theory continues that modern Homo sapiens replaced the more
archaic
species that had long previously spread from Africa, a very
different theory from Multiregionalism, which instead states that Homo
sapiens evolved through the gene flow between geographically
different groups of archaic hominids. First the ancestors of modern humans
evolved and spread; later, the future generations of these evolved
Homo sapiens left
Africa once more, to
spread throughout the Old World.
For the purpose of this paper, the archeological evidence from
Asia will be used to verify the Out of Africa theory.

In order to fully examine the nature and implications of this important event, and the theories
behind them, it is important to examine the background of each
theory individually. Klein (1999) further states that originally,
Homo erectus and
Neanderthals were wide
spread, ranging from
Africa to Asia to Europe to the Middle East. There are two main theories on how
Homo erectus and
Neanderthals came to
expand into these regions
from Africa. The first theory is Multiregionalism; this theory
states that Homo sapiens
evolved through the
gene flow happening
between these various regions, thereby evolving simultaneously throughout
the world. However, the second theory postulates that modern
Homo sapiens evolved
solely in Africa, and
at a time between 60 and 50ky
ago, the modern Homo sapiens
spread out and
replaced the other
archaic human ancestors.
Archeological Evidence

This paper uses many different types of archeological
evidence from Asia to
support the Out of Africa theory. In order to prove Out of Africa, one must disprove
Multiregionalism. What one would
expect to find in the
fossil record under Multiregionalism is populations of Homo erectus and
Neanderthals,
along with fossils of anatomically modern humans. Between the
archaic and the modern forms, one would expect to find transitional
forms showing similarities from older fossils to newer fossils,
according to Gamble (1993). For example, fossils of an anatomically
modern human would be distinguished from more archaic fossils by their
large size, having gracile skeletons, domed heads, small teeth, and
lightly built faces; whereas Homo
erectus and
Neanderthals had more robust
skeletons, with larger teeth and heavier features.

If Multiregionalism were true, then one would expect to find
fossils showing
transitional forms between the archaic and the modern; however, the fossil evidence
in Asia has archaic and modern fossils, and those fossils which have been
interpreted as intermediate forms could also be examples of
shared traits from the ancestral hominid forms. Along with
this, it should be noted that determining a biological species from
fossil data is always difficult.

Archaic: Homo
erectus, Zhoukoudian Skull
Modern: Homo sapien, Liujiang Skull
Other archeological evidence from Asia which
supports the Out of Africa theory is the significant change
in stone tool technology, which occurred about forty
thousand years ago. This issue, discussed by Gamble (1993), coincides with a
well-known similar event which happened in Europe, where the
upper Paleolithic tool technology (which was used by modern humans) rapidly
replaced the middle Paleolithic tool technology (used by
Neanderthals). Out of Africa calls for just this sort of sudden
replacement, rather than the gradual evolution of technology
expected under Multiregionalism.

Middle Paleolithic tools
Upper Paleolithic tool

There are, however, several problems with the fossil evidence inAsia. First and foremost,
the fossils found in Asia are scarce due to environmental factors in
the area, as discussed by Anderson (1997). An example provided by Gamble
(1993) was that only one skull of Homo erectus has been
found in the entire subcontinent of India, located in Narmada. The early Homo
sapiens fossils which have been found in Asia to support this theory were
found mostly in cave sites, where the stratigraphy of the regions makes
it quite difficult to properly date these specimens. The
potassium-argon method of dating covers the lower and middle Pleistocene.
The radiocarbon method can only date back forty thousand years before it
becomes unreliable. This creates a gap between the time period potassium
argon and the time period where carbon dating would cover, and
that gap appears where most would agree that either Multiregionalism or Out
of Africa was taking place, leaving each theory with
uncertain dating evidence.
Continued...